A “feed” refers to a data format, or a file, that can be used for serving content and, more particularly, content that is updated frequently. Users are able to subscribe to the feed so that the user does not have to visit the location on the Web to view the information. Rather, the feed is provided to the subscribed user through a feed aggregator, feed reader, or other program executing on the user's computer system which requests and obtains the feed from the feed provider.
Typically, a feed is formatted as an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file. ATOM is one type of feed that is an XML-based file format. Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary (RSS) refers to another family of XML-based Web content distribution, republication, and/or syndication protocols.
Conventional systems attempt to generate feed usage data by dynamically processing user requests for feeds as such requests are received from users. This manner of collecting feed usage data cannot easily be added to existing systems without a significant amount of customization and cost. This type of data collection also can be computationally expensive, requiring significant resources so as not to reduce or slow system performance. Further, the information collected by conventional systems traditionally has been limited in scope, which in turn reduces the usefulness of the information, particularly in terms of adapting Web resources to levels of feed usage.